History 145 Marmaduke Philip Smyth Ward (1825-1885): Nelson’s grandson and naval surgeon I D Fraser

Abstract

As a naval hero Vice-Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson holds a special place in the affections of the British people. Any expecta- tion that his country would provide for Lady Emma Hamilton and his daughter, Horatia, was almost forgotten when he died. However, following Emma’s death, Nelson’s family shaped Horatia’s destiny, which resulted in a happy marriage and a large family. Her second son, Marmaduke, was influenced by an uncle, a surgeon, who trained and guided him towards a surgical qualification and a life at sea as a surgeon in the . Despite a paucity of documentary evidence, it has been possible to trace his progress by analysing his Admiralty service record and abstracting information from an extensive biography of his mother. As another piece in the Nelson narrative, this account adds a medical perspective.

Fraser I D. J R Nav Med Serv 2019;105(2):145–149

Introduction villages Horatia mixed with families, such as the Girdlestones, In 1794 Captain Horatio Nelson, writing to his friend the who would feature in her later family life. Well-grounded Duke of Clarence, declared “One plan I pursue, never to in languages and deportment by her mother, her continued employ a Doctor; Nature does all for me, and Providence academic and social education prepared her well for a decent protects me.”1 In fact, Nelson sought numerous medical marriage. At the age of 21 Horatia Nelson married the Rev. or surgical consultations, some with notable interventions, Philip Ward, curate of Burnham Westgate Church, now St. which have been documented extensively elsewhere.2-4 Mary’s Church in Burnham Market, on 19 February 1822. Nelson’s formidable management skills included support of his surgeons by aiding their promotion personally5 and by In their happy marriage Philip and Horatia produced ten supporting them generally in letters to the Admiralty seeking children. Their first was a son, christened Horatio Nelson improved conditions of employment.6 Two generations later Ward, the second a daughter, and the third a son, named his grandson, Marmaduke Ward, was to follow the family Marmaduke Philip Smyth Ward, who took the given names tradition of a career in the Royal Navy (RN). of the Ward dynasty. Marmaduke was born on 27 May 1825 and christened by his father, the curate, on the same day in the The relationship between Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton small church in Bircham Newton, Norfolk. led to the birth of their daughter, Horatia, in January 1801. Apart from his stepson, Josiah Nisbet, Horatia was Nelson’s Marmaduke’s education only surviving child and in the last four years of his life it Marmaduke grew up in a large family where financial was she who brought him intense pleasure.7 In a codicil to his security was marginal. The children were educated by their will he left Emma and Horatia to the nation,8 a wish that was father at home. Horatio secured a place at Pembroke College, largely unfulfilled until May 1850 when the Nelson Memorial Cambridge. Marmaduke spent time with his uncle and aunt Fund was launched and subsequently supported in 1854 by in Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk, especially after his parents Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.9 moved parish to Tenterden, Kent, in search of a better living. Cricket was a passion for the Ward men, including Lady Emma Hamilton, widowed from Sir William in 1803 Marmaduke’s younger brother, Nelson, and his brother-in-law, and lacking Nelson’s support after his death in 1805, lost William Johnson, who married their younger sister, also named control of her finances. To escape imprisonment for her debts Horatia. In just one reference10 concerning Marmaduke, often in 1814 Emma and Horatia fled for Calais, France. repeated, we find him “passing up an offer to play professional Emma’s health deteriorated rapidly, and she died in poverty cricket in Borbanu, India”. in 1815. Horatia, then 14 years old, returned to England to be taken in by the families of Horatio Nelson’s sisters, Catherine The marriages of Admiral Horatio Nelson’s sisters established (the younger) and Susanna (the older), married to George a secure family network. Susanna’s sister-in-law, Ann Bolton, Matcham and Thomas Bolton respectively. Initially Horatia married Dr Henry John Girdlestone who had been in medical lived with the Matchams in Sussex and later with the Boltons practice in Wells-next-the-Sea until 1805. Their daughter, Ann in Burnham Market, Norfolk. Near and around the Burnham Bolton Girdlestone, married James Young, a surgeon who had 146 Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service 2019; 105(2) served in the Honourable East India Company Service in 1815. as a member of the Sydenham Society in 184513 while he “lived They had a son, Henry John Girdlestone Young, who was with Dr and Mrs Young at Wells, where he passed his articles, thus a distant cousin of Marmaduke and a few months older. and went on to Glasgow University.”14 There are no records of When Marmaduke was sent to stay with the Youngs in Wells him at Glasgow University but, clearly, he obtained enough his uncle’s professional life and stories of travel may have approved credits to enable him to take the MRCS examination influenced both young men in their career choice. Marmaduke in London. He passed on 30 June 1848, aged 23 [pers. comm., was apprenticed to James Young and accordingly lodged Library and Archives of the Royal College of Surgeons]. with the family. In this medical environment Marmaduke’s ambitions and career were fostered. Naval career Cousin Henry appears to have been academically gifted. Marmaduke’s service record (Table 1)15 reveals that he was He matriculated at University College London (1842), was appointed assistant surgeon on 22 July 1848 when he arrived admitted Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries and passed in Chatham, home of the naval medical base, Melville the MRCS (England) in 184511 [also pers. comm., Library and Hospital. He spent over 2 years on board HMS POICTIERS, Archives of the Royal College of Surgeons], graduating MD at CUMBERLAND and BOSCAWEN, 3rd rate ships with the University of Glasgow in 1846.12 Marmaduke is recorded complements of 590-620 men. In January 1851 he was placed

Date start Date end Rank Ship/Hospital H/S * Comments 22.07.48 30.08.50 Assist. Surg. Poictiers H Links with Melville Hospital, Chatham 31.08.50 06.01.51 A/S Cumberland H 07.01.51 12.01.51 A/S Boscawen H 13.01.51 02.12.53 A/S Spy S “Assist. Surg in charge” 3 years 20.01.54 22.10.54 A/S Plymouth Naval Hospital H Crimean War. HMS Royal Albert. 23.10.54 15.07.55 A/S Therapia Naval Hospital, Istanbul S “Addl Assist Surg” 16.07.55 07.08.56 A/S Therapia Naval Hospital, Istanbul S 15.08.56 30.06.57 A/S Portsmouth Marine Infirmary Portsmouth Royal Marines Infantry 01.07.57 11.09.57 A/S Portsmouth Marine Infirmary “Passed his examination for Naval 25.05.57 Surgeon” Lancet 30 May 1857 26.08.57 “Promoted Surgeon” Service record 3+ years. 2nd Anglo-Chinese “opium” 16.02.58 01.08.61 Surgeon Calcutta then onto Nimrod on 17.08.58 S wars 11.12.61 20.02.66 Surgeon Chanticleer S 4 years 18.06.67 30.04.68 Surgeon Irresistible H 01.05.68 09.02.69 Surgeon Hector H 20.06.70 31.12.70 Surgeon St. Vincent H 01.01.71 05.03.72 Surgeon St. Vincent H Total time on St. Vincent 3 years 06.03.72 05.07.73 Staff Surgeon St. Vincent H Promoted to Staff Surgeon 09.10.74 11.09.76 Fleet Surgeon Doris S Promoted to Fleet Surgeon. 2 years 19.09.76 13.10.79 Fleet Surgeon Duncan H 3 years 01.04.81 Retires Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals and Fleets Aged 55+

*H= Harbour service 33 years in the Royal Navy *S= Sea service 26+ years in active service 6+ years on half pay awaiting ap- pointments

Table 1: The Royal Navy service record of Marmaduke Philip Smyth Ward (1848-1881). Abstracted from The National Archives references ADM/196/9 and ADM 196/79/1146. History 147 on HMS SPY for three years as assistant surgeon in charge. outbreaks of smallpox, measles and mumps, transferring the This ship was a relatively small brigantine tasked with anti- smallpox cases to the nearby Royal Naval Hospital HASLAR. slave duties off the west coast of Africa. In 1854 he was posted Two years through this 3-year appointment on ST VINCENT, to the Naval Hospital in Plymouth for nine months. Marmaduke, aged 47, was promoted to Staff Surgeon and again to Fleet Surgeon in 1875, having served for more than Encouraged by Florence Nightingale, the Times newspaper twenty years. reported gross deficiencies in medical care and a shortage of surgeons during the Crimean War in 1854.16 Marmaduke’s His final overseas tour was on HMS DORIS as Fleet Surgeon. service record locates him from 23 October 1854 to 7 August DORIS was a 32-gun wooden screw-driven frigate sailing as 1856 at the naval hospital in Therapia (now Tarabya), north part of the Detached Squadron and later the Flying Squadron. of Constantinople (now Istanbul) on the western shore of The tour started at Madeira, crossed to the West Indies, South the Bosporus. There, Mrs Eliza Mackenzie was the highly America, the Falkland Islands, back to South Africa, Ascension respected matron appointed by the Admiralty.17 On her staff Island and, finally, the East India station during the Royal Visit she had three of the six Fry nurses brought over by Florence of Ceylon by the Prince of Wales. Marmaduke’s final posting Nightingale.18 Marmaduke would have witnessed the beneficial as Fleet Surgeon was at Sheerness on HMS DUNCAN, a 101- effects of good nursing care. Also, as an assistant surgeon, gun 1st-rate steam screw ship with a complement of 930. he may have participated in the early use of chloroform as a general anaesthetic for the major surgical cases.19 On 13 October 1879, at the age of 54, Marmaduke finally stepped ashore. Aged 55 and after 33 years of service he Marmaduke also appears on the muster roll of HMS ROYAL retired “with permission to assume the rank and title of Deputy ALBERT (the flagship of Rear Admiral Edmund Lyons, Inspector-General on the Retired List.”25 C-in-C Mediterranean Fleet) on 14 February 1855, which suggests that he may have seen action during the bombardment The final years of Sebastopol.20 Marmaduke’s mother Horatia moved in 1859 from Tenterden to Pinner, which was convenient for family visits of her In August 1856 Marmaduke returned home to become assistant children and grandchildren. Marmaduke was a bachelor and, surgeon to the Royal Marines at the Royal Marine Artillery on retiring, moved in with her to provide medical care. Infirmary at Portsmouth until September 1857. He presented himself to the Royal College of Surgeons of England on 25 The author and biographer, Winifred Gerin, had unprecedented May 1857 to “be passed his examination for Naval Surgeon.”21 access to the family’s records and private papers. She wrote He was promoted surgeon on 26 August 1857, aged 32. “In Marmaduke, Horatia found, indeed, a companion of exceptional warmth of heart, devotion, cheerfulness and He was posted next to HMS NIMROD, via Calcutta, from generosity…. he was the most good-natured man that ever February 1858 until August 1861 in the Far East, during the lived, unselfish to a fault”. Horatia died in 1881, aged 80. Second Anglo-Chinese (Opium) war. NIMROD participated “Marmaduke was with her to the end.”26 in the three battles of the Peiho (Taku) forts; the second battle in June 1859 was challenging and unsuccessful. Marmaduke’s He was the sole remaining executor of his mother’s will,27 and medical and surgical journals, with those of his assistant the sole beneficiary of her estate. After her death he moved surgeon (William O’Roberts)22-23 documented amputations from Pinner to live with his sister, Horatia Johnson, at her of upper and lower limbs from gunshot wounds, and also home, 6 Gower Street in central London, where he had his the usual communicable diseases and other injuries found own rooms. Characteristically, when he had sold his mother’s amongst seamen at the time. As a participant in these battles, belongings, he divided the proceeds amongst his remaining Marmaduke was awarded the Second China War Medal.24 relatives, keeping little for himself. 28 Marmaduke returned to England and was appointed to join the Virtually nothing is documented publicly of his remaining commissioning crew of HMS CHANTICLEER in December six years living in London. On occasion he visited his elder 1861, initially tasked to the English Channel and the Baltic, brother, the Rev. Horatio Nelson Ward, the much-loved rector but then joining the Mediterranean Fleet until February 1866. of St. Nicholas Church in Radstock, Somerset. During a stay there in November 1885 Marmaduke became unwell and died, Then after 16 months ‘on the beach’, aged 42, Marmaduke aged 60. Horatio conducted his burial service. Two years later had a series of postings in the home fleet, predominantly Horatio died. Their matching graves lie side by side in the around Southampton. HMS IRRESISTIBLE was a wooden graveyard of St. Nicholas Church. screw-driven 2nd-rate, acting as a guard ship with a complement of 750. HMS HECTOR was a recommissioned Conclusion rigged iron-clad frigate acting as a guard ship to the Fleet Reserve during Queen Victoria’s holidays at Osborne House. There is a considerable bibliography devoted to Vice-Admiral HMS ST VINCENT was a 120-gun 1st-rate used from 1870 Lord Horatio Nelson, his life, his battles, loves and family.29 as a training ship for boys. Here Marmaduke dealt with However, little appears to have been written about his genetic 148 Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service 2019; 105(2) grandchildren, especially Marmaduke who joined the RN lend support to the Nelson Memorial Fund in May 1850 when and saw action as a surgeon. It is opportune to examine finances were in a critical condition. Marmaduke’s life at sea, not only as a naval surgeon facing the changes and opportunities in the practice of medicine and Marmaduke may have benefitted, indirectly, from Thomas in the nineteenth century, but also as a descendent of Wakley’s support of assistant surgeons as editor of The Lancet, a national hero. at the Royal College of Surgeons in London and as a Member of Parliament on the conditions suffered by assistant surgeons Competition was fierce amongst assistant surgeons in the in the Royal Navy. Possibly, Wakley advanced all their cases Royal Navy. They often endured abysmal conditions in fear of for better treatment.30-31 The General Medical Council was losing advancement should they complain. Preferment based set up in 1858 and registration was encouraged. Marmaduke on nepotism was rife in the Royal Navy, so it is pertinent to registered as a MRCS at his first opportunity in August 1861 ask if Marmaduke’s family history and social connections on his return from the Anglo-Chinese wars in the Far East.32 favoured him. Unlike his elder brother, he did not carry Horatio Nelson in his given names. Admittedly, his family did have Marmaduke was unmarried and, therefore, did not have the influential friends such as Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy, family interest which might have established a legacy from Sir William Beatty and Sir William Burnett, Director General which we could judge more of the character of the man himself. of the Medical Department of the Navy. However, Hardy and There is no image of him in the public sector, or in the private Beatty were dead before Marmaduke passed his membership papers of a surviving member of the Ward family [pers. comm. examination and joined the RN. When Marmaduke was L Style, 1 Apr 2019]. There are many gaps in the life history promoted surgeon in 1857 Burnett was aged 78 and already of Mr Marmaduke Ward, MRCS, but this account secures both retired. Additionally, his mother, Horatia, was always discreet a medical and naval connection in Admiral Nelson’s family and guarded concerning her parentage, only using the link to history. Hopefully it will not be the last word.

References

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Acknowledgements

Dr Paul Watkins provided useful confirmatory references and encouraged the author to present the work as a service medical biography. I am indebted to Jane Wickenden, Historic Collections Librarian at the Institute of Naval Medicine, who honed her considerable skills to shape the final version of this paper.

Author

Mr Ian Fraser, MS FRCS La Scala, Beacon Road, Kingswear, Dartmouth TQ6 0BS [email protected]

Mr Fraser is retired and was formerly consultant surgeon at Warwick Hospital. At the Royal College of Surgeons of England, he was a member of The Court of Examiners and a faculty member in the Education Department.